Now, back in the day, back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, bike thieves would strive to take your whole bike, and usually, they would succeed. But then came the U- Lock. The Bike Theft Community responded by carrying around Volvo car jacks, and freeze gas, and whatnot. But that wasn’t too practical, it turned out. And U Locks got better – physically smaller and harder to pick. So, the Bike Theft Community responded by being satisfied to simply strip parts from your bike for easy resale. And that’s the situation we have now.

I’ll tell you, back in the day, the 415 didn’t have such a robust market for stolen bike parts running 24-7 the way we do now. That’s why, especially when compared with most other parts of the USA, your focus should be on protecting accessories on the frame as opposed to the frame itself. Sure, U locks still get broken, but not at all at the rate of two decades ago, that’s for sure.

Now, because the average low-life bike theft tweeker has seemingly lost the technology of breaking U locks, you can safely go cheap, like a $15 OnGuard / WalMart.com special. That’ll free up some of your cash to protect the things that matter:

Wheels

Saddle/seatpost

Headset

How do you do that? I don’t know, cables and chains and leashes and locking skewers and ball bearings superglued into your headset, thusly. Anything to make your low-life tweeker bike thief carry a bunch of different kinds of tools around, anything to make your low-life tweeker bike thief reconsider a few life choices.